Do you know how the whole concept of Galentine’s Day started? Neither did I! So, of course, I Googled it and learned Galentine’s Day was originally introduced by the fictional character Leslie Knope, played by Amy Poehler, in a Parks and Recreation episode from 2010. Because behind every good woman is another good woman — and because we don’t know how we’d survive without our gal pals — I asked my Galentine, Wendy Walker, to tell you about our decades-long friendship and why we ❤️ each other so much! – Katie
Kats, will you be my Galentine for the 46th year? Gosh, that is almost impossible to believe. Our children are older than we were when we met.
The year was 1979. I was 25 and you were 21, a fact you always like to remind me of. The BeeGees were my favorite group. “Y.M.C.A.” was blaring on the radio. (If we only knew…)The show Dallas was at its peak. That might explain some of your shoulder pads and big hair. I think we had a crush on Bjorn Borg. I wonder if he plays pickleball?
For us, it was pretty much love at first sight. We met on our first day of work at ABC News in Washington, D.C. I was a secretary (when assistants were called secretaries) and you had a cooler job; you were a desk assistant, so you got to run around the newsroom, Xeroxing, pulling wire copy, getting Frank Reynolds sandwiches, making friends. I just had to sit there and watch you in action while I looked for cute boys. The cutest was Stone Phillips, but he was already taken!
With our limited funds, we had to be very clever, making every outfit look a bit different with a scarf or a belt. You moved into the townhouse in Georgetown I was sharing with two other girls. That’s when our Felix and Oscar relationship was sealed forever. My idea of a good time, to this day, is cleaning out a drawer. Yours, on the other hand, is filling it back up with junk! Your mom and I both knew your messy side. I will never forget when she came to the house, knocked on our door, and begged me not to kick you out. It ultimately became an endearing quality — except for the time you balanced your morning coffee on my white duvet!
We had so much fun in that house. We’d watch the TODAY show on my small TV, never imagining that one day you would have Jane Pauley’s job. I’d wake you up to French braid my hair. You’d write a script for me before I would have to tell off a bad boyfriend. We’d imitate the Sweeney Sisters from SNL, singing “clang, clang, clang went the trolley” into our hairbrushes. We’d splurge on omelets and frites at Au Pied de Cochon and flirt with the French waiters.
Then we decided to make a move that changed our careers and lives forever. We went with a handful of people from ABC, including Bernie Shaw, to start Cable News Network with a crazy-as-a-fox sailor from Atlanta, Ted Turner. And the rest, as they say, is history.
I had a great time at CNN for 32 years, while you went on to become a household name. Your career is truly one of the most profound, successful, and important in TV news ever. But I am most proud of your work in cancer research. I would love to know how many colonoscopies you’re responsible for, and in turn, how many lives you’ve saved.
We both lived our respective careers, but the rest of what we have shared and continue to share is why we have remained Galentines forever.
We are no longer 21 and 25. I’m 71 and Katie is — well, the readers can do the math. We have spent a lifetime together. During those years we fell in love more than once, got our hearts broken more than once, broke some hearts ourselves, got married, and had kids. Katie lost her sweet husband Jay to cancer at 42, I lost my husband to heartbreak, children got married, Katie became a grandmother with my goddaughter’s son (also Jay), we lost all four of our parents, Katie lost her sister to cancer, and she found love again with Molner — and the list of life disappointments, challenges, and joys go on and on.
We have shared all the happiness and the sadness together as a life team.
I hope Katie doesn’t mind if I share this with you, but it might help others who are facing this challenge with a family member: Katie has a very severe pickleball addiction. She is currently in a 12-step program and we are praying it works. We might have to start a GoFundMe for her recovery. And please, do not send pickleball skirts.
OK… I am kidding. Kind of.
We have a treasure trove of memories we have shared, but I really have to say we are loving our friendship as much, if not more, now than we ever did. The key to our friendship is laughter. She is the funniest person I know, and she thinks I’m the funniest person she knows. We have the exact same sense of humor, so maybe that’s why we think that! We are still there for each other 24/7. I’m in California and she is in New York, and through the years we’ve flown across the country if we were needed. We still scratch each other’s backs. Well, actually, I scratch hers, but her nails are too short to scratch mine.
Katie fancies herself as frugal. It’s true she has a hard time spending money on herself. She is extremely generous to others.
So that’s why I am hoping this year she is going to spring for a house in the Hamptons for me next to hers for my birthday!!! If not, a pair of pajamas will do the trick. Katie loves pajamas!
I guess getting to the heart of this Galentine is the love we have for each other. Each life event, each sleepover, each arm scratch, each phone call, each tear, each belly laugh, each secret, each success, each failure, each adventure, each lesson, each challenge, each hug….. each day in those 46 years has brought us to our life-long, irreplaceable sisterhood of love. I love you, Katsies. (I don’t know how it happened, but she started calling me Babs and I started calling her Kats years ago.) Thank you for loving me and always always caring for my health and happiness.
All I have to say is, I hope I go first because I can’t imagine life without you. Happy 46th Galentine’s Day!
XXOO
Love, Babs
